


Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

by followbutterfly



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Awkwardness, Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Fluff, Friendship, M/M, Nothing Hurts, Quidditch, Smitten Harry Potter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:35:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27492778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/followbutterfly/pseuds/followbutterfly
Summary: Set in book 4 before Quidditch World Cup. Cedric had come to play Quidditch with the Weasleys in one day of the Summer. Harry couldn’t hide his pining, or at lease he had been trying to.
Relationships: Cedric Diggory/Harry Potter
Comments: 7
Kudos: 128





	Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

**Author's Note:**

> The title was taken from a Shakespeare’s sonnet 18 which exactly describes how Harry looked at Cedric (or the other way around).

Harry spluttered over his pumpkin juice as Fred and George announced at the breakfast table who was going to join them in their little Quidditch practice up on the hill near the Burrow. Ginny giggled and Hermione failed to hide her giddy smile.

Ron was not inclined with their new comer, but George only shrugged, “he’s our neighbour and the hill's not far away from his house. Come one, Ronnie. Be hospitable to our guest, will ya?”

Harry was certain that he heard Ron swear under his breath, “so are you” but for the rest, they just heard him grunt involuntarily.

Bill and Charlie insisted they wouldn’t want to join them since ‘it would not be fair’ to counter with the adults, even Charlie was a little tempted when he heard that Cedric would be joining them.

“I’m not surprised he’s made a Captain,” he said cheerfully during the breakfast, “he has a good shape and a good heart, that boy.”

Fred made a raspberry noise as George and Ron rolled their eyes, but it was Ginny who had quite a shocking remark, “did you fancy him, Charlie?”

Harry was trying so hard to gulp the juice without choking on it and hoped no one would see his ears turned red, but Charlie just laughed it off.

“Blimey, no! He was only second year when I graduated! He was a good seeker though. I remembered he helped Oliver Wood to get on his broom since he was too nervous to fly and puked after getting on his broom for fifteen seconds.”

Harry remembered Wood related his first game to him but he couldn’t imagine how embarrassed Oliver Wood had been to be carried to the hospital wing by his teammates and the help of the other team’s seeker. He laughed with the other Weasleys at that image but promised not to tease Wood after getting back to Hogwarts.

They marched up to the small hill near the forest, all of them, except Hermione, carried their own broom. The sun was lingering on the shoulder of the hill as they reached the flat field surrounded by oak and maple trees where a figure was waiting for them.

Harry’s heart seemed to jump from his chest and swooped up and down when he saw Cedric smiling and waving at them. He dressed up in muggle clothes, wearing a light blue jacket with dark red t-shirt, jeans and worn-out sneakers.

He never saw Cedric in other than Hogwarts uniform before and those casual clothes made him more relaxed, approachable and even dashing in the sunlight.

Harry hurriedly hid his blush as Cedric came to greet them one by one. He shook hands with Harry the last.

“Hey,” his hands lingered with his, “sorry for the earlier match. I wish we could have the rematch after all.”

Of course Cedric would mention their last encounter with Harry being scared to death by the dementors and falling off the broom in front of him. First impression indeed.

He had never seen Cedric so up close and talked directly to him, addressing him and recalling the mortifying incident. Harry felt the lump on his throat as he forced the voice to come out, “yeah, no. Don’t mention it.” He took the hand off from Cedric so the older boy couldn’t notice that it was sweating.

It was the twins that intentionally saved Harry from the awkwardness, “how about today’s the rematch?”

Cedric chuckled, he turned to twins and clearly didn’t notice Harry’s melting from the inside. “Sure, but I also have to team up with at least two of you anyway.”

“You can take Ron and Ginny,” Fred offered, “so you can compete with almost half of the Gryffindor team.”

Ron whined at that plan but Ginny saw the challenge and accepted it easily. Her ponytail was aggressively swinging as she ran to the other side with Cedric. Harry was reluctant to recount the rematch but he couldn't do anything about it. Part of him was relieved that he didn’t have to team up with Cedric and had more awkward interactions with him. At least he could be safe to play with the twins on the other side.

They didn’t exactly play Quidditch but more or less like a muggle’s football. They played chasers and a keeper. Fred and George brought the Quaffled with them. They tried to carry the ball to score the other’s goal. Hermione grudgingly stepped in to be their referee.

Harry was the keeper in half of the game. He did a fine job out of it since he got some cheering from the twins as he could keep out Quaffle two times from Ron, thanks to his firebolt, but lost a balance when Ginny fiercely aimed it at him within a very short distance. She scored one and came to high five with Ron and Cedric and triumphant smug on her face. Harry made a mental note to recruit into the team when Angelina graduated.

The twins scored each for their team. Their swift moves could have made Cedric fall off the broom if the boy hadn’t been well-built as the athelete (Harry tried not to think about Charlie’s comment on his strong shape and all the chivalry). Cerric was too tall to be a seeker but Harry thought he was perfectly made to be a keeper. He was taller than Wood but slightly leaner. He also got Seeker’s sharp eyes to see the big Quaffle from afar. He could bend over the broom to accelerate toward the goal just in time to protect the goal. Harry shook his head as he was assessing Cedric’s performance as well as checking him out.

When the time was up, their scores were even. They all were in a good mood and adrenaline was still flushing. Fred and George did not revoke their revenge against Hufflepuff but they had far from swore the retaliation on Cedric so they decided to rematch one more time.

This time, out of the blue, Cedric intervened, “can I team up with Harry?”

Harry was terrified as Cedric patted his shoulder in a very friendly way, “not often have I played alongside another Seeker.”

Cedric smiled at him. Again a harmless smile, but an alarming red flag raised in Harry’s head. He wanted to recoil from his touch, fearing that he couldn’t stop himself from doing something embarrassing such as tripping over his own legs as he nodded and walked with Cedric to the other side.

Cedric and Harry were chasers and Ron was their keeper. Suddenly, as though they were put in the right position, because as the game started, it was either Cedric or Harry who got the hold of Quaffle most of the time and scored for the team. Harry was the one who often struck and tossed the ball up to the goal while Cedric, with a slower broom, was standing by and waiting for the missed chance, ready to pick up the ball from Harry. Ron was unsurprisingly better at being keeper than chaser; he could read the twins’ moves like the back of his hand and bounced off the attacks in perfect timing. Ginny, despite her protest, was forced to be Keeper, which she had proven was not a position she was cut out for.

It took one hour before they completely crushed the twins. Harry, Ron and Cedric won. Their shoutings for the victory were echoing the forest. They flew to clap each other’s shoulder with a wide grin and a sweating face. When they took off, half flying half walking, Cedric rushed towards Harry and hugged him.

“I knew it! we made a good team,” he exclaimed. His face was buried in Harry’s neck. Too intimate and too closed that Harry felt his skin prickled. He shuddered a little.

It was rude not to hug back, so Harry flew his arms over Cedric and held him tight. He firmly swore to himself not to inhale the other’s scent to make it creepy rather than sporty. He was not going to regret his impulsive decision later.

It was safe to just suppress his crush on Cedric, bury it if he could.

Cedric’s arm was around Harry’s shoulder as they walked alongside to join the Weasleys and listened to Ginny’s groaning on her team’s defeat back and forth with Ron’s jabbing and teasing at her and the twins.

The older boy’s arm was still warm on his shoulder for how long Harry didn’t count. Too busy to count his beating heart and force it to normalcy.

Then, without any clues and anyone’s notice, Cedric slid down his arm from Harry’s shoulder to arm, and suddenly paused. With a frightening heart beat, his hand touched Harry’s.

Harry’s head was whirling rapidly. He was sure that he had forgotten how to breathe or even keep his body functioning as a human being. His brain seemed to have itself electrocuted as Cedric continued holding their hands.

The group was moving down from the hill, still bickering and punching lightly at one another. Cedric and Harry were the last two in the line. It was Cedric who was pulling Harry along the way as he was too dumbfounded to even know how to properly walk without stumbling over.

Finally, Harry managed to choke out a question, “but— how?”

It was totally idiotic question, but Cedric just laughed. Even his laughing was so beautiful, Harry thought furiously.

Cedric, though, used the other free hand to rub his neck,“since last year, I guess.” He said shyly, almost unlikely his usual esteemed posture, “I— uh, visited you in the infirmary after the accident but you were unconscious back then. You looked so vulnerable yet so strong. I knew you fought against the dementors before falling. I blamed myself for not helping you just in time since I heard you scream.”

Harry wanted to interrupt the older boy's confession but the look on Cedric’s face made him hold his thoughts back.

“I had visited you a couple of times actually. But I chose the late night so you wouldn’t notice me. It was a little creepy, I know,” he laughed self-deprecatingly, “we didn’t know each other and I feared you were so upset with the match’s result that you might not want to be friends with me.”

Harry was blushing, he was so flabbergasted by the other’s smitten feeling towards him. It should be him who would have been acting like a tool. Him, not Cedric.

Cedric noticed his gaping and chuckled, “I can’t help feeling hopeless for you. It’s easy, though. You recovered from the wound, got back up to play against Slytherin in the final match and won! After all those hard times, you fought valiantly. It was so admirable, even though I had been watching you from a distance.”

Harry’s face was turning aflamed, “you think so highly of me.”

Cedric halted. He turned to face Harry with a serious look, holding his hand even more firmly, “that’s not true at all. You’re stronger than you thought. Please don’t think of yourself as anything less.”

Harry was ready to protest but he heard the group was calling their names. He decided to pull his hand off from Cedric and got a glimpse of disappointing flashing on the other’s face. It took only a mere second before Harry jumped in with both feet to press a kiss on Cedric’s cheek.

“Thanks,” he murmured.

Cedric responded with the most beautiful smile that imprinted on Harry’s longing memories of him.

They parted ways as the Weasleys’ Burrow was on the left side of the downhill and Cedric’s house was on the right side. They said goodbyes to each other. Ron was much relaxed after winning and he exchanged an amicable goodbye with Cedric. Harry was left standing stupidly. He was determined to process what had just happened after this.

He hadn’t been left out for long. After saying farewell to Ginny and Hermione, Cedric turned to him again, leaning to whisper a soft velvety voice caressing Harry’s ear.

“Hogsmeade first week, together.”

Harry only nodded, hoping his heart hadn’t been ready to leap off and soar just yet.


End file.
